Accused Katrina physician seeks reimbursement of her legal fees

Hospital Safety Insider, February 11, 2009

A physician who was accused, but never convicted, of euthanizing patients at a New Orleans hospital in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is asking the state to pay her legal bills associated with the case.

Anna Pou, MD, will have her request reviewed by a state board as an initial step. Her attorney argues that the state should kick in money for Pou’s legal fees because she was an employee of the Louisiana State University Healthcare Network at the time of Katrina in 2005, according to the Times-Picayune of New Orleans.

A Louisiana law covers state workers' costs in certain legal cases that arise out of a public employee's official duties, the Times-Picayune reported. Her attorney would not tell the newspaper how much Pou should be reimbursed.

Pou was among three clinicians working at Memorial Medical Center who were later arrested by Louisiana authorities for allegedly euthanizing patients as conditions at the hospital worsened following Katrina. However, a grand jury refused to indict Pou, who denied all of the allegations.

*MAGNET™, MAGNET RECOGNITION PROGRAM®, and ANCC MAGNET RECOGNITION® are trademarks of the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). The products and services of HCPro are neither sponsored nor endorsed by the ANCC. The acronym "MRP" is not a trademark of HCPro or its parent company.